The candidate, LeAnn Snow, is a physician in the specialty of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R). She has extensive experience in rehabilitation medicine and in sports rehabilitation. She completed her doctorate in exercise physiology in 2004. This combination has equipped her well to specifically apply exercise to conditions in health and neurological disease. In order to better understand the mechanisms by which therapeutic exercise exerts its effects she is seeking additional training in skeletal muscle plasticity, particularly as applied to conditions of neurological disease. The specific goals for the K08 award are: 1) to increase her knowledge in current theories of cellular and molecular mechanisms in skeletal muscle plasticity 2) to increase her knowledge of study design to allow for a broader understanding of options for testing mechanisms of plasticity in nervous system and skeletal muscle, 3) to learn the theoretical basis for additional nervous system and muscle-related laboratory techniques, and to learn accurate performance of those techniques so that current methods can be employed in her future research, 4) to foster professional connections with clinicians and research physicians in PM&R in order to establish the groundwork for translational research, and to become a recognized leader, 5) to complete a series of research studies addressing muscle responses after stroke, and thereby be prepared to apply for an R01 award. The environment is outstanding. The candidate has assembled a strong team of mentors in neuroscience and muscle plasticity, an advisory board of clinician leaders, and training activities to provide her with the necessary tools to be a successful physician-scientist. The overall aim of the proposed research is to determine molecular, cellular and functional adaptations of skeletal muscle after hemorrhagic stroke, with and without a therapeutic exercise intervention. The results of this research will provide vital information for the field of rehabilitation and a springboard for the candidate's independent research career. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]